NEWS

At Monday's meeting of the Columbus-Lowndes Convention and Visitors Bureau Board of Directors, Harvey Myrick, who founded Grilling on The River, said the event would return in a "bigger and better" capacity.

Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant on Monday signed a law that will put new regulations on the state's only abortion clinic, starting July 1. The Republican said he's not bothered by the possibility that the clinic's owner will sue to try to block the new mandates.
"If it closes that clinic, then so be it," Bryant said during a bill signing ceremony in his Capitol office.

Police Chief Selvain McQueen will be discussing a new organizational chart for the Columbus Police Department during Tuesday's city council meeting. McQueen said the chart, if passed by the council, will provide restructuring within his department.

A lifelong scouting enthusiast, Jeremy Whitmore, has made a career in the Boy Scouts of America. Whitmore, 39, is a graduate of Murray State and an 18-year veteran of scouting. In January 2011, he began his latest scouting challenge as CEO of the Columbus-based Pushmataha Area Council.

The Lowndes County Board of Supervisors and other county officials this month are celebrating National County Government Month to highlight county government programs and services; the theme for this year's celebration is healthy counties, healthy families.

Columbus Fire and Rescue responded to an unauthorized burn at 215 8th Ave. S. Friday around 7: 30 p.m.
Capt. Mike Gibson said the homeowner was burning leaves, without a permit to burn within the city limits, but the fire was out upon arrival.

He was four years old the first time his mother beat him. She grabbed the nearest thing she could find, an extension cord, and lashed his legs until blood ran dark on his flesh. When she tired of him, she shoved him out the door, onto the wintry streets of Chicago, and let him fend for himself. He was the scapegoat amongst his five siblings, called worthless and unwanted more often than by his name.

The Columbus Municipal School District hosted its second safety summit Friday in ongoing efforts to create better strategies for threat crisis assessment and response, particularly with bomb threats, which have plagued the district all year.

Five-year-old Mary Margaret Sullivan has never spoken a word.
"When she doesn't like something, she frowns," her dad, Mike Sullivan said. "When she wants something or she is happy about something, she blows kisses. That's how she talks."
On Saturday the child that cannot speak simply couldn't shut up.

A pre-kindergarten program is needed in the county, Lowndes County School District board members agreed Friday, but questions remain about issues like transportation and the total cost of implementation.

In honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day observed across the world, the Columbus-Lowndes Public Library will host several events Monday, April 16, from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. in the meeting room of the Chebie G. Bateman building at 314 Seventh St. N.

It was a night to flaunt Columbus High School talent, and senior Trenton Brown, already a showman at age 17, couldn't hide his grin, as he stepped behind the drums to pound out a duet with his older brother, CHS Band Instructor Sammy Brown Jr., during the second annual Falcon Showcase Thursday.